3:33 am

I always feel happy when I see numbers arranged in certain ways.  (I know...I'm weird!)  Like, when I woke up at 3:33 this morning -- besides being annoyed that I couldn't get back to sleep -- I smiled because of the numbers on my clock!  It was especially fun when I worked at a bank.  It seems I was always pointing out these kind of numbers to my co-workers (and getting strange looks from them...).  ;)  Like, when a deposit or account total came out to 1212.12, or when my cash drawer total was at 999.99, etc.  Palindromes are fun, too: 1233.21 (ignoring the decimal, of course).

Anyway!  So, what did I do when I couldn't get back to sleep after 3:33 this morning?  I decided to try my hand at making applesauce!  Nicole has been sick, and yesterday she wanted some applesauce, but we didn't have any.  I've never made applesauce before, but a nice neighbor brought us some apples the other day, and I figured it couldn't be too hard to make my own!  So I browsed through a bunch of applesauce recipes online, took the ideas and ingredients from a few different ones that sounded promising, and I gave it a whirl!  :)

Here's what I did:

1. Washed, peeled, cored, and sliced 5 medium-sized apples.
2. Put the apple slices in a pot, poured about an inch of apple juice into the pot, added a dash of lemon juice, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a cinnamon stick.
3. Boiled the apples for a little over 20 minutes, until they didn't resist the poke of my fork anymore. ;)
4. Took the pot off the heat and let the apples cool for a bit.
5. Removed the cinnamon stick.
6. Used a slotted spoon to scoop out the apples, allowing the extra juices to stay in the pot, and put the apples into my Ninja blender.  (I let the apples cool a little longer after transferring them from the pot, which allowed more juice to seep out of them, but I didn't worry about draining that off.)
7. Pulsed the apples until they were the consistency of applesauce!  (I reserved the extra juice in case the applesauce was too thick, but it turned out perfectly, without any extra juice added.)
8. Poured the applesauce into Mason jars (I'm sure we'll eat it fast enough that I don't have to worry about canning it).

Can I just say that I'm a little proud of myself?!  :)  I didn't expect such good results on my first time...but the real test will come after Nicole wakes up and tries some...  I hope she likes it!  But, even if she doesn't, I like it, and I love how my house smells so delicious!!! :)  (Who needs scented candles?  Just boil an apple and a cinnamon stick together and your house will smell like fall!)  :)

What else have we been up to lately?  Well, I'll show you!  (Aren't you excited that I have some pictures to share for once?!)  :) :) :)

During the Priesthood Session of General Conference, at the beginning of October, us Muench women got together at Amy's house to hang out, and Amy let us each make an awesome clay magnet.  :)  Cole made a Barbie Fairy from the movie A Fairy Secret (Cole loves the Barbie movies), and I made a snowman (I love snowmen!).  :)  It was lots of fun!  I wish I would've taken pictures of everyone else's magnets...

Here's another one of Cole's works of art, just for fun!  It's the one that is currently hanging on our fridge.

Also, I made Nicole's Halloween costume (for the first time) this year!  We watched the Broadway performance of CATS (on DVD) a couple months ago, and Nicole decided that she wanted to be the white cat for Halloween.  When it comes to sewing things, I'm a bit terrified of the sewing machine...but I don't mind knitting and crocheting one bit!  So, I crocheted her costume!  I didn't have a pattern to go off of, I just winged it, and I think it turned out all right!  I made her leg warmers, wrist warmers, a tail, and ears.  She already had the white leggings, shirt, and skirt (except this skirt is too small, so I think I might crochet her a skirt that fits before Halloween...I was going to make a tutu, but, like I said, the sewing machine is kinda scary to me!).  ;)

Another thing I did this month was I made a paper chain to count down the weeks of our pregnancy!  :)  I have a horrible memory, so I figured this would help me remember what week I'm on, and it would get Nicole more involved in things.  On each chain, I wrote the week number and a couple of facts about the baby's size and development for that week.  Each Saturday, we remove another link and read about our baby.  :)  This week we're 15 weeks along, and the baby is somewhere around 4 inches long!  For now, the chain has a home on our little mantle so that the cats don't play with it.  :)

And, finally, here are some fun fall pictures.  Ryan raked the leaves in his parents' yard on Saturday, and Coley sure had a blast playing in them!  :)